CLASS is the social events, heritage excellence and style magazine for Africans in north America, described by The New York Times as the magazine for affluent Africans in America.

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Emeka Okafor remains a champion on all fronts....

Special toUSAfrica The Newspaper, Houston
USAfricaonline.com and Classmagazine.tv

He's brilliant, focused, handsome, full of discretionary commonsense and has his eyes set on the golden prize. Emeka Okafor, one of our very own, remains the best in the College game - as far as centers go. With zest and precision he comes on very well as an offensive player, too. While the team effort was the key, Emeka Okafor was the motivator and catalyst. He's fluent with the game of basketball as well as stellar in his academic distinctions. He will graduate as an all-American high-achiever in May 2004 with an average of almost 3.8 in finance. All accomplished in about 3 years.

Okafor scored 24 points and 15 rebounds to lead Connecticut defeat Georgia Tech 82-73 to win its second National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship since 1999.

It was a sweet Monday night victory this April 5, 2004, in San Antonio, as the final showdown with Georgia Tech ended with the Emeka Okafor-led University of Connecticut Huskies getting the gold. The victory was consolidated in the 2nd half with what was evidently a superior performance. He made 10 of 17 shots and was named the Final Four's Most Outstanding Player.

The previous Saturday, on April 3, 2004, the versatile 6feet 10" Okafor overpowered the No.1 rated Duke University.
UConn scored 12 straight points to rally and defeat Duke 79-78.

Speaking on his distinctions, Emeka said: "When I came into college, I already had a couple of credits coming in. I mean, I had two options: Either I could have a relaxed freshman year or I could put in a little extra effort and go ahead and finish early. The idea was in my head early. So then it was just how to commit the plan. I just made use of every advantage given to me. People say, 'How did you do this? How did you graduate so quickly?' I just had an opportunity other people didn't. Not everybody has the time, to take classes during the summer. I did." Connecticut's coach, Jim Calhoun said recently, "he's one of the most focused human beings I ever met in my life...I don't know if I've ever seen a kid develop in more different ways than Emeka Okafor."

Without a doubt, Emeka is an outstanding personality and leader in all competitive fields he's put his efforts in. He grew up here in Houston - where he performed very well during his high school days. We'll be watching, cheering and praying for Connecticut's star player in jersey No. 50 to continue on his path of excellence.

Summary: Africa's most acclaimed and fluent writer of the English Language, the most translated writer of Black heritage in the world, broadcaster extraordinaire, social conscience of millions, cultural

custodian and elevator, chronicler and essayist, goodwill ambassador and man of progressive rock-ribbed principles, the Eagle on the Iroko, Ugo n'abo Professor Chinua Achebe, has recently been selected by a distinguished jury of scholars and critics (from 13 countries of African life and literature) as the writer of the Best book (Things Fall Apart, 1958) written in the twentieth century regarding Africa. Reasonably, Achebe's message has been neither dimmed nor dulled by time and clime. He's our pathfinder, the intellectual godfather of millions of Africans and lovers of the fine art of good writing. Achebe's cultural contexts are, at once, pan-African, globalist and local; hence, his literary contextualizations soar beyond the confines of Umuofia and any Igbo or Nigerian setting of his creative imagination or historical recall. His globalist underpinnings and outlook are truly reflective of the true essence of his Igbo world-view, his Igbo upbringing and disposition. Igbos and Jews share (with a few other other cultures) this pan-global disposition to issues of art, life, commerce, juridical pursuits, and quest to be republicanist in terms of the vitality of the individual/self. In Achebe's works, the centrality of Chi (God) attains an additional clarity in the Igbo cosmology... it is a world which prefers a quasi-capitalistic business attitude while taking due cognizance of the usefulness of the whole, the community. I've studied, lived and tried to better understand, essentially, the rigor and towering moral certainties which Achebe have employed in most of his works and his world. I know, among other reasons, because I share the same ancestry with him. Permit me to attempt a brief sentence, with that Achebean simplicty and clarity. Here, folks, what the world has known since 1958: Achebe is good! Eagle on the Iroko, may your Lineage endure! There has never been one like you!

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